Archive | June, 2019

A dramatic
confrontation reported in the New Testament occurred inside a Roman theatre in
Ephesus. That colossal theatre is still in
service today.

Ephesus,
on the west coast of what is now Turkey, was founded by Greek colonists from
across the Aegean Sea in the tenth century B.C.
By the third century B.C., the city was famous for the nearby temple of
Artemis, an important fertility goddess.
Featuring 127 ionic columns and covering 1.6 acres, the temple was one
of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. When the Romans took control of Ephesus in the
first century B.C., they made it the capital of the Province of Asia. They reassociated the temple with their
goddess Diana and greatly expanded a Greek theatre built into a hillside on the
north side of the city, creating a seating capacity of 25,000. By the first century A.D., the population of
Ephesus was as high as 250,000.

According
to the Book of Acts, Paul went to Ephesus in about 54 A.D. Local silversmiths selling miniature
representations of the temple complained that Paul’s teachings about Jesus were
endangering their livelihoods by suggesting that Artemis/Diana was not a real
god. Residents responded by dragging
Paul’s traveling companions into the Great Theatre, where a shouting mob menaced
them. The melee ended and the men were
released when the city clerk demanded that the silversmiths pursue their
grievances in court, warning that they could be charged with provoking a riot. By the time Paul left Ephesus in 56 A.D., the
city was home to an important early church.

Christian vigilantes destroyed
the
temple of Artemis/Diana in 401 A.D. after Roman Emperor Theodosius I had outlawed
paganism. But the Great Theatre, with
its three-story stage house, has survived and is occasionally used for
performances, including one by Elton John in 2001.